Stephen Gowans discusses his three recent articles, each reflecting the hypocrisy of US brand of democracy and all the tricks that are played. (Articles in order presented on the show)
1. "US - South Korea Exploiting DMZ Mine Incident to Divert Attention from Anti-N Korea Provocations," August 18: The recent DPRK landmines that severed the legs of South Koren soldiers before the US/South Korea threatening annual August war games started are being blamed on North Korea, even though the most likely explanation is that flooding caused landmines to drift, as in 2010 when dozens were killed by floating land mines at the N-S border.
Gowans explains the US has 30,000 US troops in South Korea and 45,000 more in nearby Japan, and that South Korea is the only country in the world where a foreign (US) military has operational control over its armed forces.
South Korea has also set up powerful speakers at the border to broadcast propaganda lies into North Korea. It is Orwellian.
2. "Cuba's Low Level of Internet Use: Not a Policy of Restricting the Flow of Information," August 22. Stephen Gowans uses World Bank data to show that Cuba (30 users per 100 people in 2014) is on par with other economically challenged countries regarding Internet usage. For example, Cuba is on par with Egypt (32) and El Salvador (30) and greater than Guatemala (23), Honduras (19), India (18), and Haiti (11).
Cuba's low usage has nothing to do with a Communist state suppressing dissent, but everything to do with its economic situation which has been devastated by the US blockade, possibly by a trillion dollars.
3. "The Dung Heap of Procedural Democracy," August 18 Gowans challenges economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman's partisan bias of mentioning only the Republicans as part of the money driven dung heap political system.
According to Gowans, Krugman condemns the wealthy dominating politics in the US, but he does not understand that "What he is doing is rediscovering what people who have worked in a Marxist tradition have been talking about for decades if not over a century."
Cubaâs Low Level of Internet Use: Not a Policy of Restricting the Flow of Information August 22, 2015